Monster Hunter 3rd Portable!

On the 1st of December Monster Hunter 3rd Portable was released in Japan.
The Monster Hunter franchise is VERY popular in Japan. It is the PSP's killer app moving PSP hardware like no other game. People in Japan will even buy a whole new PSP with the release of a new MH.
The lines outside japanese retailers for this game were ridiculous:

The line at the Shinjuku Yodobashi Camera was apparently 3,000 people long! I don't think I could wait in a line that big for anything! 

Kotaku have a great Video: http://kotaku.com/5702971/watch-hundreds-of-japanese-people-wait-patiently-in-monster-lines

MH portable 3rd is not so much sequel to MH portable 2nd or MH Freedom Unite in the west, is instead separate to the rest of the series, and most of the game has been entirely remade.
Monster Hunter Portable 3rd introduces new regions, monsters, and a revised Felyne combat system, also some other information on the new features on MH Portable 3rd;
The new base of operations is Yukumo Village. This village has a feudal Japanese feel to it, both from its design to its residents. The player can take two Felynes out with him/her on a single player quest, up from the single companion of Monster Hunter Freedom Unite. When you take Felynes out on a quests, monster attacks are divided between the player and the companions, making hunts easier. Also new to Monster Hunter Portable 3rd is the ability to customize the Felyne companions' equipment. Doing so will change the creature's physical appearance and properties. The player will be able to customize the Felynes in three areas: weapon, head parts and torso parts. A new field introduced in the game is Keiryu, or Mountain Stream. All the fields in Monster Hunter Tri, along with the addition of the Mountain Stream field are expected to be included in Monster Hunter Portable 3rd. However there will be no under water levels and certain stages are edited to compensate for this. Monsters from previous Monster Hunter games and some new monsters(like the one shown on the cover) are in this game.

I really can't wait to play this game, I love MHFU (Monster hunter Freedom Unite or MH Portable 2nd) on PSP, so look forward to trying out the new features. I also hear there are new improvements to the weapon systems too, and the felyne features sound cool too. The felynes are awesome little dudes. 
Not sure when the english language version will be released but as soon as I hear anything I shall post it on here.
The japanese version is available on import from all good importers. 
But for now you can enjoy the trailer:




Also whilst hunting on youtube for the trailer I came across the anime (with eng Subs) about the Felynes in MH.

MonHan Diary: Giri-Giri Felyne Village is a Japanese animation made by DLE and produced by Geneon Universal (Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo). This was the first time that such a production was made based on the Monster Hunter series. The series debuted on August 5, 2010 and ran for ten episodes, each being 3 minutes in length. The episodes broadcast on the Tokyo MX TV network every Thursday at 22:55 (Japan Time). Capcom also broadcast the episodes on their website the following Mondays with extra footage.

• MonHan is the nickname for Monster Hunter in Japan.
• Giri Giri means Just About or Just Barely and is often used as an expression to describe a close call.
  • "I almost didn't catch the bus, it was giri-giri."
• Airu is the Japanese name for Felyne.
• The animation was a promotion for the PSP game, MH Diary: Poka Poka Airu Village, which released on August 26.